Like someone looking for the first robin of Spring, this NewsBuster has been on the prowl for the first media person to suggest that Hillary Clinton is going to have to quit the race.
Joe Scarborough didn't go quite that far, but let's just say his shirtfront was taking on a distinctly robin-red hue on today's Morning Joe. After lambasting her "dismal" performance on the stump, Scarborough--quoting an unidentified panel member--said that Hillary is "getting into Rick Perry 2012 territory right now."
Mika was quick to make clear that she wasn't the unidentified doomsayer.
A clip was played of Hillary at an event yesterday in which, even when speaking on her favorite topic--women--she had to repeatedly look down at her notes. Steve Schmidt uppped the ante on Scarborough's "dismal" assessment, calling her performance "beyond abysmal, horrendous."
If It Wasn't Mika: who did pronounce Hillary's impending doom? The other people around the table were Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace and Mark Halperin.
HILLARY CLINTON: [looks at notes] You've heard Mr. Trump insult and demean women [looks at notes] haven't you? He occasionally throws some heat [looks at notes] my way. [looks at notes] He recently said I don't have a clue about women's health issues. He would do a much better job for women than I would. [looks at notes] And as I've said that's a general election debate I'm really looking [looks at notes] forward to. In fact he says he cherishes women. [looks at notes] Well that's nice. [looks at notes] But if it's all the same to you, Mr. Trump [looks at notes], I rather you stop cherishing us and respecting us [looks at notes] instead.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Hillary Clinton's performance there was dismal. While Bernie Sanders is in the words of Hank Williams setting the woods on fire in these speeches across Virginia, she is reading notes every three words while she's attacking Donald Trump. You know she can't draw these crowds right now.
STEVE SCHMIDT: When you watched that my first reaction is, am I watching Hillary Clinton or am I watching the Saturday Night Live parody of Hillary Clinton on this? The performance level is beyond abysmal. It's horrendous. It's completely out of step with the mood of the country right now. And so this campaign begins with her hopping into the Scooby van. Remember that? And heading off to Iowa as tribune of the people with a stop at Chipotle, and the conventional wisdom in Washington, DC is: wow what a great tour, this is fantastic, what a great launch. No one is buying it.
JOE: Nobody's buying it. And the thing is, it's hard to say -- okay, understand, I like her personally -- it's hard to say but this is -- somebody said it around this set, I will not reveal the source -- we're getting into Rick Perry 2012 territory right now. When you have attacks --
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: It wasn't me.
JOE: -- where she's having -- it wasn't Mika. Mika's still hoping she can still vote for Hillary.
MIKA: I'm really bummed out.
JOE: And a lot of Democrats are bummed out.
